Marketing your company to stand out from the rest of the pack isn’t easy, especially if you’re in an industry where your competitors offer similar services. How do you get the word out about how awesome you are without sounding like everyone else? It’s not about the latest buzzwords or pithy phrases. It’s about capitalizing on what makes your organization unique. To do that, hold a mirror up to your organization and then do your best to articulate what you see.

Do a simple Google search for “off the shelf vs. custom application” and you’ll find dozens of helpful and well-argued articles with convincing analyses of factors ranging from costs, features, and organizational and technical implications, to tax and legal considerations. Such articles can be useful as checklists to ensure you’ve done your due diligence when deciding how to approach the system or application you need. But one factor that is often given surprisingly little weight in the decision-making process (perhaps because it is difficult to quantify) is user experience.